diff --git a/config.dev.toml b/config.dev.toml
index 07bf403b4..72830c175 100755
--- a/config.dev.toml
+++ b/config.dev.toml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ GoEnv = "development"
 # ATHENS_GO_BINARY_ENV_VARS='GODEBUG=true'
 # Then the final value that the Go binary will receive is ["GODEBUG=true"] and NOT ["GOPROXY=direct", "GODEBUG=true"]
 # Therefore, whether you use the config file or the env var, make sure you have all the values you need there.
-GoBinaryEnvVars = ["GOPROXY=direct"]
+GoBinaryEnvVars = ["GOPROXY=https://proxy.golang.org,direct"]
 
 # GoGetWorkers specifies how many times you can concurrently
 # go mod download, this is so that low performance instances
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 6af93a5a9..dd7d3f3bc 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ func Load(configFile string) (*Config, error) {
 func defaultConfig() *Config {
 	return &Config{
 		GoBinary:              "go",
-		GoBinaryEnvVars:       EnvList{"GOPROXY=direct"},
+		GoBinaryEnvVars:       EnvList{"GOPROXY=https://proxy.golang.org,direct"},
 		GoEnv:                 "development",
 		GoGetWorkers:          10,
 		ProtocolWorkers:       30,
diff --git a/pkg/config/config_test.go b/pkg/config/config_test.go
index cd2a7e577..7a4198913 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config_test.go
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ func TestParseExampleConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		TraceSamplingFraction: 1.0,
 		StatsExporter:         "prometheus",
 		SingleFlightType:      "memory",
-		GoBinaryEnvVars:       []string{"GOPROXY=direct"},
+		GoBinaryEnvVars:       []string{"GOPROXY=https://proxy.golang.org,direct"},
 		SingleFlight:          expSingleFlight,
 		SumDBs:                []string{"https://sum.golang.org"},
 		NoSumPatterns:         []string{},
diff --git a/pkg/config/testdata/config.dev.toml b/pkg/config/testdata/config.dev.toml
index 10d67239c..6160ad403 100755
--- a/pkg/config/testdata/config.dev.toml
+++ b/pkg/config/testdata/config.dev.toml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ GoEnv = "development"
 # ATHENS_GO_BINARY_ENV_VARS='GODEBUG=true'
 # Then the final value that the Go binary will receive is ["GODEBUG=true"] and NOT ["GOPROXY=direct", "GODEBUG=true"]
 # Therefore, whether you use the config file or the env var, make sure you have all the values you need there.
-GoBinaryEnvVars = ["GOPROXY=direct"]
+GoBinaryEnvVars = ["GOPROXY=https://proxy.golang.org,direct"]
 
 # GoGetWorkers specifies how many times you can concurrently
 # go mod download, this is so that low performance instances